Alexander Gordon (antiquary)
at the University of Aberdeen, where he distinguished himself by his classical attainments, he resided for a time in the city, eking out a living as a teacher of languages and music.
He afterwards visited the continent, at first probably as a tutor, and returned home an excellent French and Italian scholar, and with a good knowledge of art and antiquities.
He told William Stukeley that when at Capua with Sir George Byng (afterwards Viscount Torrington) "they sav'd the fine amphitheatre there, the 3rd in the world, which the Germans were going to pull down to repair the fortifications, by speaking to the governor & viceroy at Naples."
During three successive years he visited different parts of Scotland and Northumberland, exploring, drawing, and measuring ancient remains, at much cost and some hardship.
Gordon was a frequent guest at Old Penicuik House, where he had access to a splendid museum of antiquities, and was accompanied by Clerk in his Northumbrian explorations, as well as in others nearer home.
The work, which had been largely subscribed for, appeared as Itinerarium Septentrionale; or, a Journey thro' most of the Counties of Scotland, and those in the North of England.
Though his theories have long since been exploded, he has preserved records of earthworks, inscriptions, and relics of various kinds, of which but for him all knowledge would have been lost.
The appendix derived its chief value from a learned correspondence concerning ancient sepulchral rites in Britain between Sir John Clerk and Roger Gale which Gordon here made public, greatly to their annoyance.
On page 188 of the Itinerarium Gordon announced his intention of issuing in a few days proposals for engraving by subscription A Compleat View of the Roman Walls in Britain.
His next publication was The Lives of Pope Alexander VI and his son Cæsar Borgia; comprehending the Wars in the Reigns of Charles VIII and Lewis XII, Kings of France, and the chief Transactions and Revolutions in Italy from .
He was more successful with a translation of the De Amphitheatro of Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, published as A Compleat History of the Ancient Amphitheatres, more peculiarly regarding the Architecture of these Buildings, and in particular that of Verona.
Gordon published two very learned treatises wherein he undertook to solve the mysteries of hieroglyphics and to illustrate "all the Egyptian mummies in England."
Whiston says that Gordon having been found deficient in his accounts was dismissed from the Society for the Encouragement of Learning, and his effects seized on.
Gordon sailed for South Carolina in August 1741, as secretary to James Glen, F.S.A., the newly appointed governor of that province.
He still kept up a desultory correspondence with Sir John Clerk, to whom he confessed himself "vastly weary" of colonial life.
His daughter, Frances Charlotte Gordon, appears to have been married, on 30 May 1763 to John Troup, a Charleston attorney.
The traditions of the Penicuick family represent Gordon as a grave man, of formal habits, tall, lean, and usually taciturn.
Beaupré Bell made a bust of him after an original given by Gordon to Sir Andrew Fountaine's niece.
